The Wild Hunt
by Tschubi-chan
Summary: Chapter2 uploaded RanKen yaoi When Weiss decides to visit the local fun fair, horrible things occur.
1. Author´s Notes

Author: Tschubi-chan

e-mail: keiji_izumi@yahoo.com

Title: The Wild Hunt

Rating: R (I think it's justified, ´cause there's going to be lots of blood)

Warnings: Yaoi, death, angst, horror, sap and romance

Pairing: RanxKen, (one-sided YoujixKen)

Disclaimer: I don't own all those soon to be dead bishonen evil grin. Koyasu Takehito does. The lyrics to "The Wild Hunt" belong to Therion. They are not mine, either!

A/N: 

Before I start with the first chapter of this story, I wanted to include some more or less important notes. 

Many thanks to all those who helped me fix my little language problem with fun fair and mirror maze. glomps all I know it´s been a long time, but one shouldn´t give up hope to hear from me, ne? smile 

By the way to those who kindly asked...I come from Germany, so if there are questions on German expressions, I´d be glad to help out.

The story is my answer to the Horror-challenge on the KenxAyaML back in October 2001. Parts of it have been on my hard-drive since god-knows-when. I'm currently working on the fourth chapter of "ATGB" and something about which I won´t tell you right now grin, but I have problems as to how to start the continuation. I promised some of you guys you know who you are! at least one chapter of my stories until tomorrow, so I decided to re-write the first chapter of "The Wild Hunt" and post this as my personal apology for the delay.

I never ever wrote horror before, but I hope it will work out in my story. Just as a warning! If you don't find horror in later chapters, I promise that it will get at least a bit angsty.

Just as many of my other stories, "The Wild Hunt" will be accompanied by a matching song. Since there will be more than the originally planned one-shot, I will post the song separately in this message. Parts of the lyrics will be included in the chapters themselves. The song written and sung by the classic metal band Therion is an extremely fast, heavy and loud song, but I think the lyrics will fit the story especially in later parts. 

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/Hunted by the Gargoyles through the labyrinth.

Loosing Ariadnes thread./

/I'm gone astray!/

/Tumbling into chaos without anything

And my holy guardian angel has walked away.

I'm chasing my shadow inside my own soul/

/I am the persecutor of my self in the wild hunt/

/The horned god take me through infernal journeys/

/The dogs are barking and the owls cry out loud,

Shadows are laughing and screaming in my ears.

I see the outline of the horned man-in-black./

/He stretch his hand to my left shoulder in fear.

I'm chasing my shadow inside my own soul/

/I am the persecutor of my self in the wild hunt

The horned god take me through infernal journeys/

/I throw my self into all the demons.

I cast my self into the wild hunt.

The forest is the labyrinth of fear and all the Dead´s running in the hunt/

/I give my self unto all my demons

And let they eat of my mind and soul./

/I will gain strange powers in this ravage.

I cast myself into the wild hunt/

/I'm chasing my shadow inside my own soul/

/I am the persecutor of my self in the wild hunt/

/The horned god take me through infernal journeys./

Last but not least I´d like to thank Daemonchan, Portia, Yaoke-san, Li-chan and Swythangel for their kind support and for writing such wonderful stories that never fail to brighten my days! I think I´ll dedicate this story to you guys.

Portia: The credits to "Upon a painted ocean" should go solely to you! I just challenged you to write a pirate story. The story itself was your idea and I can´t repeat myself enough how much I love it. Concerning your question: I don't think the reasons for Ken's kidnapping are obvious. I just like to rack my mind about possibilities why something happens in a story and I do it especially when I like it very much! Gomen that you are not able to read the next chapter of "ATGB" or "Eternal Return", yet. As I said I have problems how to start the chapters although the whole plot is already in my head.

Now on to the story! Have fun!


	2. The Wild Hunt Chapter1 - The Beginning

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The Wild Hunt

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Chapter1

*October,31th, Koneko*

"Please!!!!! Aya? Youji? It's just for a few hours.", the youngest member of Weiß begged with puppy eyes.

"No!", Youji growled annoyed.

"...", was Aya´s silent answer, but his cold glare told the two blonde assassins what he thought about the whole idea.

"Spoilsport!!!", Omi pouted and slumped onto a chair crossing his arms. Aya continued his silent breakfast sipping at a cup of coffee and watching for the latest news in one of the local newspapers, while Youji rummaged in one of the drawers searching for some aspirin.

But Omi wouldn't be Omi if he let the older men get away with that. He jumped up and stomped with a foot on the floor like an annoyed, impatient child.

"We haven't done anything fun for years!", he sputtered angrily. "I thought after what happened two months ago, we could use a good distraction. The fun fair is a perfect opportunity."

Realising what he had just said the blonde boy shuddered and looked around hoping that Ken hadn´t heard him. Luckily the door to the living room was closed. 

Two months back there mission had been to fake their own deaths in order to fool General Powell. It had been very hard and exhausting for all of them, but Ken took it even worse than them. He was the only one surviving their supposed deaths killing off Aya in a deadly match. The brunette nearly had a breakdown afterwards. Aya had a hard time to convince him that he didn´t really hurt him and the others. Still, whenever the topic was mentioned, the boy seemed to drown in guilt. Knowing it would only hurt him more, they tried to avoid it when he was around.

Aya interrupted his reading and stared at Omi. He didn't comment on what the boy had said mere moments before, but seemed to contemplate something. Finally after Omi already thought he´d stare at him for all eternity, the redhead started speaking.

"Did you ask Ken to come?"

His voice was cold and betrayed no emotion and Omi once again asked himself quietly how Ken was able to cope with him when he was in such a mood. 

"Not yet. He's watching a soccer game. I think, he'll kill me if I interrupt him now.", Omi finally admitted in a small voice.

Suddenly a smile tugged at Aya´s lips when his earlier thought formed into an idea. The two blonde assassins looked at him in confusion. Aya smiling was a very rare event. Usually Ken was the only living person to witness this miracle. But... Him smiling like a prankster was even more astonishing.

"I´ll go if he comes, too.", the redhead announced calmly. If you looked closely, you´d recognise an evil glint in his plum eyes.

Youji snorted.

"I don't think anyone can convince him to leave the couch anytime soon."

Aya´s smile widened and grew a bit sinister.

"Nothing easier than that."

He left the kitchen table and walked into the living room. Omi and Youji followed him, curious as to what their stoic leader had planned.

Ken was sitting comfortably on the couch eyes fixed intently on the events occurring in the TV. His shoulders tensed when something happened what the others could not see from their line of view. The ex-soccer player jumped up suddenly and started to curse in several different languages that no one was aware he was able to speak .

"Baka! That was such an easy shot and you didn't catch it. So ein Verlierer! [1] Merde! [2]" The boy groaned. "They are going to loose every game with such a goalie."

"Kenken?", Aya interrupted him softly. It took every nerve not to pounce on Ken. The boy looked deliciously cute all riled up, but Aya tried not to show it. He had other plans.

The brunette slumped back on the couch, then looked up at him. His eyes lit up upon falling on the tall redhead, soccer match already half-forgotten.

"Nan dayo?", he asked smiling softly.

He soon became uneasy when he noticed the predatory gleam in the redhead's eyes. A faint blush crept onto his cheeks when the other came closer than comfort. He had noticed Omi and Youji standing nearby. Aya didn't usually show any affection when they were in the same room with him, so understandably he got nervous upon Aya´s weird behaviour.

"Wh...what?", he stammered. "Aya?"

Aya smirked and caught Ken's wrists in a tight grip. He moved forward gracefully and before the brunette was able to register what happened, straddled his hips effectively fixing him to the couch by his greater weight. 

"A...Aya...", the boy started to stammer, but was silenced when the redhead leaned closer to his face crushing their lips together in a bruising kiss. He sucked at his lower lip before finally thrusting his tongue into the startled boy's mouth. Ken tensed up, too surprised to react at first, but he soon relaxed forgetting that they had witnesses and responded to the kiss with equal passion. He silently cursed upon not being able to use at least one of his hands and fist them into Aya´s hair or shirt, but he couldn´t escape the tight grip of the redheads slightly bigger hands that pinned him to the couch.

Aya smiled against his lips and pulled back a bit, never letting go of the boy while doing so. He knew all to well how fast the smaller boy could react. Memories of their first and second meeting flooded his mind and his eyes softened.

"How about a trip to the fun fair today, Kenken?", he asked huskily.

The brunette stared at him, face flushed, eyes glazed over and mouth still slightly open from their passionate kiss. His breath was ragged obvious evidence that he had enjoyed the redhead's attention very much. He seemed to contemplate the question for a while, then realised what it meant. An adorable pout spread into his face.

"Mou, Aya...I wanted to watch the soccer marathon. You know that I waited almost four w...mphhhh...."

Aya silenced him by covering his mouth again with his lips. The man released one captured hand and stroked the boy's velvet soft hair. He pulled back again and the brunette whimpered in distress, green eyes clouded.

"Onegai?", Aya whispered into his ear and caressed his cheek.

"But, Aya...urghh" 

Aya sucked at the brunette's neck, eliciting soft moans from the smaller boy. Inwardly he was grinning madly, knowing fully well that his lover couldn´t deny him anything.

" Gods Ran...", Ken purred using the taller man's real name.

"Onegai, Kenken? I´ll make it up to you once we come back. Promise!", he murmured and kissed him again and released the second hand as well.

Noticing the chance to get free, Ken tried to push himself out from under the older man. He stopped suddenly and looked into Aya´s plum eyes that betrayed every emotion at that moment, not his usual cold and calculating gaze that reminded of frozen amethysts. The brunette slumped back and sighed. He knew he had lost to those pleading eyes.

"Fine! You won! I´ll come with you.", he muttered defeated. 

Aya smiled softly and pecked him on one adorably flushed cheek. Then he proceeded to stand up. He turned around facing the other two Weiß members who had witnessed the whole thing and were now gaping at him as if he were a ghost. Aya having admitted that he loved the soccer playing brunette six months ago had been a miracle. Him openly showing affection, no…lust was something akin to impossible. Yet, the smirk on the redhead's face and the still blushing boy on the couch were enough evidence to convince Youji and Omi that what they had seen was indeed true.

"Ok. I'm coming, too.", Aya announced finally.

Ken looked at him confusedly and grabbed one of the redhead's hands.

"What do you mean...you're coming, too. I thought the whole thing was your idea?"

Youji laughed and winked at the brunette.

"He said he'd only come if you came as well. It was Omi´s idea to go to the fun fair."

Ken let go of the redhead's hand and crossed his arms pouting.

"You cheated.", the boy muttered not really pissed off. He had enjoyed his lover's way of convincing him.

Aya smiled genuinely down at him and tousled his hair.

"You know you liked it, itoshii.", he whispered quietly.

Ken blushed again.

Omi beamed at both and said.

"Now, I take it that you're coming. That means I only have to convince Yotan."

The blonde man snorted at the remark.

"Give me just one reason why I should come with you. I mean…a fun fair. That's for kids!"

Omi whacked him over the head and scowled. 

"First…it's Halloween and we don't have to open the shop today. Second…there isn't anything else for us to do. There hasn't been a mission for about three weeks. I doubt Manx will come up with one today." 

"Then go alone. I have an important date this evening and I don't want to be late, just because I went to something as childish as a fun fair."

Youji turned around and proceeded to leave the room.

"Youji-kun! Stop!", Omi called.

"What else?", the blonde man muttered annoyed.

Omi grinned evilly. He held up a notepad and smirked at the lanky playboy.

"See what that is?"

Youji´s eyes widened as he realised what the younger boy implied.

"You wouldn't dare!"

"I wouldn't....or would I? I'm sure Makoto would like to meet...", he looked into the little booklet, "Jane, Tsubaki, Sakura, Aya..."

Ken's head perked up at the mention of his lover's name and he cast a timid glance.

"Aya?", he asked unsure.

Omi smiled reassuringly.

"Not that Aya! Don't worry, I think you got our redhead's single attention."

Ken's flushed again from head to toe at the comment. Aya smiled and kissed the brunette lovingly, nothing heated, just his way to assure the boy that he was all his´. 

"I´d never betray you, itoshii.", he whispered huskily.

"That's true…", Youji said silently wondering who this person in front of him was and what he had done with their stick-shoved-up-the-ass leader. Dismissing the thought, he winked at Ken, "…besides I'm more interested in brunettes. Red is so out of date."

Aya glared at him, eyes searching for his usually ever present katana.

"Shut up, Kudou! Get close to Ken and I will…"

He was silenced effectively when Ken yanked him down and kissed him, while blushing madly at the same time. The boy stroked Aya´s cheek and smiled.

"Youji was only joking. Besides I love *you*, not him." 

Aya nodded, but not before shooting another glare at the playboy. What Ken didn't know was that the blonde assassin had been indeed serious about his preference on brunettes. Truth to be told, Youji´s desire for their younger team-mate had been the reason to act upon his hidden affection for the cheerful brunette before it was too late. Finally declaring his feelings to him, Aya was overjoyed that they had been reciprocated the whole time. Youji not wanting to come between them when he realised (to his silent dismay) that they had become lovers, had stopped his purchase for the boy. Aya supposed that the lanky assassin was still very much in love with Ken.

In the meantime, Youji had tried to sneak up behind Omi to get his booklet but the little blonde had foreseen his next move and jumped out of the way grinning.

"Hm,...where did I stop? Aa, yes...Aya, Rei, Lianna, Naomi, Satsuki...", the boy stopped. "How many girlfriends do you have? That's insane."

"I'm just not the person for a constant relationship. I need diversion and adventure. Any problem with that? Now give it back to me, before I have to hurt you." 

He ran after Omi. The boy eeped and tried to hide from him, but the Youji was way faster than him and managed to corner him between table and wall. He growled and grabbed the notepad. Omi continued smiling.

"What!", Youji snarled.

"I knew you would catch me. That's why I copied all addresses and phone numbers beforehand. If you do not come with us enjoying the day like a nice little family should do, I´ll tell all of those "chicks", as you would call them, that they should have a little meeting preferably with you present and in a locked up room."

Youji paled at the thought of dozens of crazy, pissed off exes and soon to be dates in a room with him... poor defenceless guy that he was... and shuddered. He hung his head.

"I´ll get you back for that. Count on it!", he growled.

Omi giggled merrily.

"That wasn't too difficult, was it? You'll love it…they have one of the greatest roller coaster and merry-go-rounds and we could go to some game stands as well. Oh, yeah and they also have a pretty cool mirror maze. One of my friends at school told me that you can get lost in there for hours."

He looked at Ken when he heard the brunette inhale sharply.

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/Hunted by the Gargoyles through the labyrinth.

Loosing Ariadnes thread./

"Mirror maze?", the soccer player asked green eyes wide, body all tensed up. 

Omi rose a questioning eyebrow. Ken seemed paler than usual and was that fear in his eyes?

"What's wrong, Ken? You don't look too well."

Ken giggled nervously scratching his head and proceeded to stand up.

"Aa,...it's nothing. Really!", he smiled colour returning to his face, "Just...not a big fan of mirror mazes, That's all." 

He giggled again, then grabbed a jacket and looked at his watch.

"Wow, it's late. We should go if we still want to see all of the fun fair.", he said and went towards the front door.

Youji shot a glance at the retreating boy, then at Aya and Omi.

"What was that about? It looked as if he was afraid for some reason."

Aya shrugged and grabbed his own jacket.

"I don´t know.", he said calmly. "I´ll ask him later."

The redhead turned and stared at the lanky blonde. "And you willl keep your mouth shut, Kudou."

"If you say so, Fujimiya."

Omi sighed only and followed them outside. Deep inside, though, he was disturbed by Ken´s behaviour, although he didn´t know why.

~tbc~

[1] "So ein Verlierer!" – "Such a looser!"

[2] "Merde!" – "Shit!"

A/N. I'm so out of writing that I'm getting scared. This sucked did it?! Don't blame me...I haven´t written anything in months.

Also...tell me if I should continue this or not. No votes for "ATGB" or "Eternal Return" please, because they will definitely be continued. smile


	3. The Wild Hunt Chapter2 - Long forgotten ...

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The Wild Hunt

A/N. Disclaimers can be found in part zero, I'm too lazy too repeat the whole procedure. I'm glad you liked the story so far and I was amused to see that question number one in your reviews was Why is Ken afraid of mirror mazes?. I'm evil, ne? grin This will be another rather light chapter (at least at the beginning He, he) before I start with the serious angst or...well...as angsty as I can get, considering I have no experience with such fics.

Ok, enough rambling. On to the second chapter and another good portion of sexy Ran smirk and bashful Ken laugh. Oh, and Ran will be a bit OOC in this chapter. Blame it on the fact that the fun fair and his little Kenken lighten him up considerably. Oh, yeah, another mention of Ken's non-existent aniki. I told you that I have this weird "big Brother"-fixation.

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Dedication: For Daemonchan who never fails to cheer me up! Thanks a lot Daemonchan! By the way...if I ever get inspired with my art muses again, I might draw another pic for "Clavicula Nox" goes in search for her muses.

Chapter2 – Long forgotten past

*3 hours later at the fun fair*

"Wait up, will you?! I´ll get you back for that!!!", Aya laughed and ran after the giggling brunette who still carried the water pistol he had won at one of the game stands. Being at the fun fair and having a younger lover around that was constantly smiling and laughing, lightening the whole place up with his cheerfulness, had loosened him up a lot. 

He had almost smiled in front of Youji earlier, but repressed it when he noticed the teasing smirk the older assassin threw at him. Now, that they had lost Youji and Omi some time ago and were alone, he could let go of his constant mask and openly show the affection he held for the younger brunette. 

After a few minutes of chasing the boy around, he finally managed to corner him on a wall behind some of the game stands. Aya smirked when his captive pointed the water pistol at him. Ken was completely out of breath and he could see that his mind had problems deciding which was more important. 

Teasing the redhead in front of him further or trying to catch his breath which would result in a breaking off their little game. The need for fun succeeded and the boy straightened the pistol. Aya´s smile widened if that was even possible. 

"There's no more water in there, Kenken. You already used all of it on me."

The redhead wiped some wet hair out of his face to underline the statement.

"You know...", he continued advancing on him with a full-fledged grin that was so unlike Aya that it was almost scary, "...that was really evil. Now what should I do about it?"

He placed a hand on each side of the brunette's head to keep him from escaping. Ken grinned up at him, green eyes dancing merrily.

"Dunno. Maybe kiss me?", he asked daringly accepting the challenge in the teasing match.

Aya laughed softly and leaned closer hugging the boy tight to him.

"That would be a possibility.", he murmured huskily.

He cupped the boy's face in his hands and captured his mouth in a passionate kiss. Ken tasted like strawberries and mint, an odd combination, yet not surprising considering he devoured tons of ice-cream with that flavour earlier. He slipped his tongue even further into the boy's warm cavern and managed to elicit a soft moan from him. Ken practically melted into his arms and he had to place one of his arms around the brunette's waist to keep him from falling to the ground. Aya smiled against his mouth. He loved Ken's reaction to his kisses. It was simply endearing. 

"Mou...Aya! Ken! Where are you?", they could hear Youji shouting.

Ken broke free from the kiss and smoothed some of his clothes out, cheeks heavily flushed. Aya cursed inwardly at Youji for interrupting the perfect moment. 

"Darn.", he muttered a little louder , but the object of his affection didn't seem hear him. 

"Over here!", Ken called, just as Youji and Omi came around the corner. Aya tried to slip back into his emotionless mask before they reached them. He wasn't ready to show the world the real Aya Fujimiya, no Ran Fujimiya. Ken was the only person with that privilege. What had happened earlier that day, was an exception. His need to tease his genki love had won the battle against his conscience.

Mask back in place he faced the two blonde boys in time to catch Youji´s smirk . Said assassin needed only one good look at the blushing brunette to know what happened.

"Getting naughty again, Kenken?", he teased.

Ken blushed even worse at the comment and Omi whacked the playboy over the head.

"Stop teasing him, Youji-kun.", he scolded lightly. " I'm sure what they have done was perfectly innocent, ne Ken-kun?"

Ken looked like he wanted to disappear into thin air, face redder than a tomato. Youji´s smile never ceased. 

"But I am right, am I? Aya?", he looked at the redhead for support.

Aya didn't answer, but a faint smile tugged at his lips that he hoped no one would notice.. 

Meanwhile the colour of Ken's skin was slowly turning back to normal. He grasped Aya´s hand, hoping that his lover wouldn't deny him the open display of affection. His hand trembled a bit. Aya tightened the grip in an assuring manner, softening at the brunette's obvious insecurity.

"Did you win anything at the game stands?", the soccer player asked still a bit embarrassed at being caught. It was obvious to all of them that he wanted to change the topic.

Omi grinned and held up a little white stuffed kitten.

"Isn't it cute? I won it at the dart stand. I only had to hit the green marking three times and that was easy."

Youji snorted.

"It was easy because you're doing it every time we are on a mission. Where do you see the challenge in that?"

"Shut up, Youji-kun. I won it. That's all that matters.", the little blonde sulked. "Now, what are we going to do now?" 

"Don't know.", Ken said. "We tried all roundabouts and I think we looked at all of the game stands. We visited the animal show and the horror cabinet, though I still don't know what was frightening in there. My English teacher back at school looked scarier than any of the creatures. 

Then there was also the love tunnel...", he perked at his lover through brown bangs and flushed again. "..., the roller coaster which was indeed very cool as Omi promised earlier. The only thing left is...", he gulped.

"...the mirror maze", Youji finished for him measuring the boy with a scrutinising glance.

Ken had become white as a sheet in less than three seconds. Youji would be damned, but he wouldn't let the brunette escape with another excuse like earlier. He closed the short distance to him, shot a silent glance at Aya daring to interrupt him, then looked into the boy's green eyes with an intense stare that rooted the boy to the place for an instant.

"What's wrong, Ken? And don't tell me that you are alright because I can see quiet clearly that you are *not* alright. I know your excuses by now, so don't even try to lie to me. You look worse than shit right now, to put it mildly and I'm not letting you go off until I got a straight answer of you."

Ken tried to back away, but Youji caught his chin in a tight, yet soft grip and forced him to stay were he was. The boy trembled a bit. Youji almost felt sorry for him. Almost! He wanted to know what scared the boy like that. After all he did care for him a great deal and hated to see him like that.

"I don't like mirror mazes, that's all.", he muttered.

"You don't like mirror mazes? That's all?", Youji mocked. "Sure! That's why you look ready to faint. Now again....what is wrong? There's more behind it."

"I...I...damn ...it's so stupid! I thought I would have got over it after all theses years.", the boy muttered annoyed at himself, yet his friends could make out a deep sadness and pain behind those words. 

Aya placed a hand on his lover's shoulder and rose questioning eyebrows.

"What's so stupid? Tell us, Kenken."

Ken sighed and retreated a few steps back. Youji allowed the move, but still kept a close eye on him. The boy hung his head, brown bangs hiding the expression on his face.

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/I'm gone astray!/

"You know...", he started, "...everybody fears something, especially at a younger age?"

The other three nodded waiting for him to continue.

"My older brother for instance feared the darkness. He always kept the lights on when he went to bed or he never went out alone after nightfall. I suppose if he were alive, he would still be afraid of the dark. No one could cure him of that fear."

Aya nodded again. This had been the first time the boy had mentioned someone of his past. His family. Ever! He frowned. The boy had spoken of his brother in past tense. What did happen to him?

Besides, he always thought that Ken feared the Darkness as well. He was a creature of light and he had noticed on several occasions that the boy rarely went out after nightfall alone. He tended to ask for company first, before he would leave on his own. And as he had already mentioned about his brother, Ken kept the lights in his room on very often.

Aya glanced at Ken and wanted to ask him about it, but the brunette seemed to have guessed his question.

"I dislike the Dark, but I don't fear it, Aya! That's a difference.", he whispered softly.

The redhead nodded slowly and asked for him to continue.

Ken drew in a deep breath and clenched his hands into fists. He looked even more pale than before and all of them noticed that tears threatened to spill from his eyes. 

"When I was younger, I loved to go to the fun fair with my aniki. Our favourite place was the mirror maze. I think we liked it so much because it was a real challenge for us first to get lost in there and then to try and get out of the maze in a certain amount of time. The mirrors bedevilled it but to us it usually meant the more difficult it was, the more we liked it. That was until..."

Ken drew in a shaky breath and Aya could see that the boy was loosing his composure.

"What happened?", he asked him and fought the urge to envelop the boy in his arms. Something bad had obviously happened and it still haunted the brunette's memories.

"When I was about 9 years old...", the boy continued, "...aniki was about sixteen back then...strange things started to occur whenever we entered the maze."

"Strange things?", Omi asked.

"Yes! Sometimes the mirrors would start to flicker or one of the corridors we had just passed disappeared and we found another one instead. Don't look at me as if I'm crazy. I know that it was true!"

He glared at Youji who had looked like he was about to snicker, but then had fought back the grin when he noticed how serious Ken was about the whole matter. Ken's face softened a bit, but his eyes were haunted.

"One time I could swear that I had backed up against cold, rough stone instead of the smooth surface of a mirror. You can guess that I freaked out about it. I mean, I was nine years old. A child! Try to explain *that* to a child. Aniki tried to convince me that it was all in our imagination, that we were just seeing things and I believed him. He was my hero and I adored him to bits. Heroes do not lie, do they?"

Tears started to fall now in earnest. Aya finally gave in to the urge to comfort his younger lover and drew him into a tight embrace.

"If you don't want to continue...", he started, but Ken shook his head vehemently.

"No! It's ok, I guess...", he sniffed a bit and snuggled a bit further into the redheads arms. "It's about time I told you."

He relished the comfort provided by Aya a few seconds longer in order to calm down a bit. Then he smiled shakily and retreated a bit back, so he could look at all of his friends. His eyes shone with determination.

"OK. As I said, weird things happened and in my opinion it got worse every time we entered the maze.

You may ask now why we didn't avoid the maze and do something else, but I can tell that you do not know my brother. He wasn't the person to get scared by something like that and me, looking up at him, followed of course every time he re-entered the maze and tried to find out what was happening in there. One day when we were in the maze, nothing happened: no flickering mirrors, no false corridors or stonewalls that appeared behind us."

Ken laughed dryly without humour.

"Instead I began to notice someone following us. I heard footsteps which is not very unusual, I mean we were not the only customers that entered the maze, but when we turned around no one was there. Yet, as we continued to cross the maze, I noticed something out of the corner of my eyes. If I looked at it directly it disappeared and if I concentrated on my brother, it was like a shadow at the peripheral range of my vision that disappeared if I tried to get a closer look. I was so engrossed in trying to catch a look at it that I didn't notice my brother disappear. One moment he was there, the next while I wasn't watching he had disappeared. I panicked of course. Who wouldn't? I screamed his name and started to run through the corridors not bothering to watch out where I was heading. All I had in mind was finding my aniki."

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/Tumbling into chaos without anything

And my holy guardian angel has walked away.

I chasing my shadow inside my own soul./

He stopped again and they noticed that he was very close to crying again. Aya had a bad feeling about what happened that day. They waited patiently for the brunette to continue and half a minute later, the boy was composed enough to complete the story.

"While I was running...", he croaked, "...the mirrors started to flicker again and I could see the reflection of a man in them. He was tall and dark, but I couldn't see his face. I only knew that it wasn't aniki and that he scared me to wits. I tried to run faster and somehow found the exit to the maze by chance. 

Before I left the maze, I turned around one last time. The thing, I will not call it a man, in the mirror was grinning and I noticed that his hands were covered in blood. The terrifying thing wasn't the blood. No...what terrified me was that I saw him only in the mirrors, but he should have been standing in the corridor if he were to be reflected in there, yet when I looked down the corridor, there was no one! I screamed and ran out of the building. I guess the last part was just a figment of my imagination, but I could swear that his eyes glowed and that there were looming shadows on his shoulders, almost like wings."

The brunette shook his head and laughed.

"Scratch the last part. I'm pretty sure I just imagined that. After all I was scared shitless."

"What happened to your brother?", Omi asked softly, "He wasn't with you when you left the building."

"When I calmed down enough to think rationally about what occurred back in the maze, I started to think that it probably was just some sort of weird joke by someone and that my nii-san would come out soon after me. I was wrong. He didn't come! I waited almost two hours for him to join me, but no one left the maze after me. I alarmed some security men of the fun fair and they assured me that my brother probably left the maze before me and went home. I told them that aniki would never ever leave me alone. Never! They took me serious and started to search for him on the grounds of the fun fair and in the maze itself. 

They found him not even one hour later near the exit of the maze and considering what they told me and my parents, I should have seen him laying there when I ran out of the building."

"Laying?"

"Yes!", Ken whispered softly. "He was dead. Someone slit his throat and left him bleeding to death. No, wait...I guess that's the wrong definition for it. Someone practically ripped his throat and parts of his face apart. I can only hope that he didn't bleed to death and was dead in an instant, because the thought kills me that I walked by and didn't notice him while he might still have been alive.

The police asked me if I had seen anything and I told them that I had seen a man, but couldn't see his face. I left out the part with all those weird occurrences, because they wouldn't have believed me anyway. They told me I was lucky not to share the same fate as my brother. They never found out who killed him. Guessed it was an insane killer."

Ken slid to the ground and curled into a miserable ball, crying silently. Aya and Youji crouched next to him, hugging the boy tightly. Omi was watching them speechless. He would have never thought that something like that might have happened to their best friend and fellow assassin.

"I'm sorry!", they all said at the same time.

"There's no need to be sorry.", the boy sniffled still sandwiched between the two older men. "It happened a long time ago and I finally need to get over the past. I shouldn't let my past influence the future. Not this past at least."

He curled himself closer into Aya´s arms and squeezed Youji´s hand thankful for the comfort provided.

"Well, you can guess that ever since that day I hated mirror mazes. They were the place where I lost my brother, my big shining light and up till now I swore to myself never to enter one again. I suppose the police was right in their assumption that there was an insane murderer responsible for all this, but back then I didn't quiet believe them. The man in the mirror and his glowing eyes. It was all so weird. I started playing soccer soon after the incident. It was my way to deal with the pain and it kept me from thinking too much about it. 

Today is the first time I have ever told someone about what really happened, well at least what my nine year-old self thought had happened, but didn't dare tell anyone. As I said I'm not so sure about it anymore."

"Perhaps we should leave then!", Aya said calmly. "I don't want to bring any more bad memories back for you by forcing you to go into the mirror maze they have here."

Youji and Omi nodded to underline his statement. Ken looked at them with wide eyes and the redhead smiled reassuringly.

"No one will force you. If you want us to head back home, we will all gladly do so, don't we?"

The two blonde men nodded again. Ken smiled gladly and closed his eyed.

"No, it's alright. It's about time to let the past be past and live in the present. And perhaps to go in there will help to finally get over aniki´s death."

Aya noticed that though his lover tried to be brave and sound calm, his hands were trembling and beads of sweat trickling down his pale forehead. He squeezed his hand in assurance.

"You wouldn't have to go in there alone, Kenken. Did you forget already? We all wanted to go in there except for you. But, as we already said... if it is too much for you after telling us, we would understand."

Another shudder ran down the soccer player's spine and he contemplated his answer to his friends. After what seemed to be an eternity, he nodded firmly.

"Lead the way!"

~*~*~

Somewhere in the Darkness the small group was being observed by someone. The creature smiled cruelly.

"Finally! He's come back to me!"

TBC

A/N: That sucked! I hope the next chapters will get better sniff. ATGB4 should be up this evening or tomorrow evening. I'm close to one of my migraine attacks, so I guess I should be careful. 

"Eternal Return" will follow suite soon after, hopefully sometime this week.


End file.
